It's been about, at a minimum, they estimate, and they're going to be giving you exact numbers, but since past year they've raised an additional $33 billion dollars that's been put up by the various countries, not including the United States.

Trump reiterated Friday that he is not going into the meeting with high expectations, but he said the two leaders would also discuss "a number of things", including cuts to nuclear weapons arsenals.

Before the summit began, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said seven nations-plus the US -are already delivering on the commitment, up from three in 2014. Partners including European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker therefore left the discussion.

"Trump took advantage of his speaking time to return to the issue of burden sharing" during the Ukraine and Georgia meeting, a diplomatic source told AFP.

"It was important for the president to know what information we've uncovered because he's got to make very important decisions for the country", Rosenstein said. And it would be shocking if he made any concessions to Vladimir Putin, especially given what Russian Federation is doing in Ukraine.

He said North Atlantic Treaty Organisation is "more co-ordinated" and there's a "better spirit for NATO" - surprising sentiments considering Trump has long made his disdain for the alliance well known, and had even threatened to pull the USA out of the alliance over the spending dispute.

The US also committed an extra 3,000 troops to support Afghan forces in September 2017 - bringing its total to 15,000.

On Thursday, Trump reiterated his criticism of NATO in a tweet, stating, " Presidents have been trying unsuccessfully for years to get Germany and other rich NATO Nations to pay more toward their protection from Russian Federation.

"What you spend on a military budget doesn't necessarily automatically lead to greater capacity to contribute to NATO's defence", he said.

Referring to an ongoing investigation into ties between his election campaign and Russian Federation, he decried a "rigged witch-hunt" that was hurting the United States and its relationship with Russian Federation.

"Some are at 2%, others have agreed definitely to go to 2%, and some are going back to get the approval, and which they will get, to go to 2%", he said. Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse said in a statement that "all patriotic Americans" should know Putin is not "the President's buddy".

However, French President Emmanuel Macron insisted that the amount they agreed to at this summit had already been agreed to in 2006 and the deadline for reaching this goal had been decided in 2014 - before Trump had even announced his candidacy.

"All allies are increasing defense spending".

While Sanders argues that Trump should go ahead with the one-on-one meeting with Putin in order to press him on his alleged role in election interference following the new indictments, Sen. The question remains: "how long will they continue to break this shameful comedy that disgraces the USA", the Russian statement, obtained by CNN, read.

Poland, which was under Moscow-backed communist rule for decades during the Cold War, is today one of the most pro-US countries in Europe.

"That's all", said Macron, who also denied talk of Trump threatening to withdraw from the alliance.